India on Monday said there is equal number of Indian citizens getting killed along the border and stressed keeping the border safe free from any kind of criminal activities through joint cooperation.
“There’s 50-50 in terms of Bangladesh and Indian nationals getting killed on the border,” visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla sharing that statistics.
While responding to a question on border killing issue, Shringla said the issue is consistently coming up in Bangladesh-India relationship and mentioned the criminal activities that take place along the border.
He said it is the responsibility of border forces on both sides to ensure that the border is respected and the place is kept safe stopping criminal activities.
“Despite that there’s a fair amount of criminal activities that happen. Every death on the border is something that is a problematic issue,” Shringla said adding that the death of every single human being diminishes them further.
He said this is very completely stated position that one death is too many on the border.
The Indian Foreign Secretary mentioned that their border guarding force faces lots of challenges, and there have been fair amount of attacks on border forces.
He said deaths on the border are not necessarily just confined to the citizens of Bangladesh and highlighted the facts from other side of the border which are not looked at here.
The Indian Foreign Secretary talked about improving security, creating zero criminal activities, more cooperation, more joint patrolling and common border management plan, and bringing deaths zero level.
He laid emphasis on ensuring only legal activities along the border stopping all kinds of illegal activities.
Earlier, Shringla delivered the keynote speech at a seminar on “Bangladesh and India: A Promising Future” at Sonargaon Hotel in the city.
The Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and Indian High Commission in Dhaka jointly organised the event.
Prime Minister’s International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi spoke as the chief guest at the seminar highlighting the relationship between the two countries.
BIISS Chairman Ambassador Fazlul Karim, Indian High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das and acting Director General of BIISS Colonel Sheikh Masud Ahmed also spoke at the programme.
source: UNB
